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Medical Supplies Reaching India, COVID-19 Deaths Near 200,000; E.U. Lawsuit against AstraZeneca; U.K. Prime Minister Boris Johnson Faces Scrutiny for Conduct; U.S.-Saudi Ties; Saudi Arabia in Talks to Sell 1 Percent of Aramco. Aired 10-11a ET
Aired April 28, 2021 - 10:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[10:00:00]
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LYNDA KINKADE, CNN ANCHOR (voice-over): Tonight, India's deadliest day. More people there infected with COVID than ever before. We're going to go
live to New Delhi.
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BORIS JOHNSON, U.K. PRIME MINISTER: No, I don't, Mr. Speaker. What I believe has been strained to breaking point is the credulity of the public.
KINKADE (voice-over): Angry and rattled, Britain's prime minister insisting he's done nothing wrong. But now he's facing a formal
investigation. We're going to go live to the U.K.
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KINKADE (voice-over): Plus, South Africa's president facing an inquiry and questions about corruption in his party. We're outside the courthouse for
more.
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KINKADE: It is 10:00 am here in Atlanta, 3:00 pm in London, 7:30 at night in New Delhi. Good to be with you. I'm sitting in for Becky Anderson. This
is connect your world (sic). And this hour, India's implosion into a COVID meltdown now spreading to neighboring countries with equal ferocity as it
faces its deadliest day yet.
The country is shattering records for new daily cases. More than 360,000 reported just today and nearly 3,300 new deaths. India's official death
toll now tops 200,000 people. The true number of cases and deaths, though, might be much higher.
An influential model here in the U.S. projects nearly 1 million people in India could die of COVID-19 by this August.
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KINKADE (voice-over): And this is what it looks like in some of India's biggest cities. Crematoriums now operating around the clock. And for the
living, there are lines to get desperately needed oxygen and to refill oxygen tanks.
People are taking to social media, pleading for help. And hospitals remain desperate for supplies. Many are turning away patients. Take a listen to
what countless families have had to endure there this week.
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UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: My father is in a very critical condition and I am getting no help. (INAUDIBLE) there but nobody is responding. (INAUDIBLE)
not reachable. Please help me, please. My father is dying (INAUDIBLE). Yesterday, I lost my younger brother.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): The doctors warned us that if we take my father to the hospital without oxygen support, there is no
guarantee he will be OK. But we just couldn't find an ambulance.
In desperation, we had to take an auto rickshaw. He was gasping for air and just removed his face mask. He was crying, saying, "Save me, please, save
me," but I could do nothing. I just watched him die.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KINKADE: In the midst of the disaster, members of prime minister Narendra Modi's party continue to hold crowded campaign rallies. The national
election committee, which has come under scathing criticism from India's high court, has now limited rally sizes.
But its authority does not extend to local elections. And the prime minister suffering a personal loss in this pandemic. His aunt has now died
of COVID-19. Senior international correspondent Sam Kiley is on the ground for us in New Delhi and joins us now live.
Sam, as shocking as these numbers are that are coming out of India and as horrifying as the images are, these cremations happening in parking lots
and authorities saying they're running out of firewood, the real problem is that the numbers we're seeing might only paint part of the picture.
What is really happening there?
SAM KILEY, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, yes, Lynda, the estimates -- I mean, this is true anywhere in the world, where the numbers
of people getting tested may not reflect the numbers of people getting infected or even getting ill with the COVID virus.
Now we've had a peak here of over 360,000. But the reports of large numbers of testing centers here in New Delhi, closing due to being overwhelmed,
simply not having the capability to keep up.
[10:05:00]
KILEY: People wanted to get tested who are just fearful. Others who may be suffering symptoms and, of course, they get tested, if they're lucky, when
they get into hospital. But most of all, the issue in the hospitals is a lack of oxygen now.
For about a week, there have been almost daily appeals -- there have been daily appeals from hospitals, particularly here in Delhi, for oxygen. We've
just seen a tweet earlier on in the last couple of hours from a children's hospital, that's also treating new mothers and some COVID victims, that
they've got an hour of oxygen left.
A huge effort is now being made by the international community, from France, United Kingdom elsewhere to ship either -- to ship mostly the
capacity to compress and make oxygen here to India, so it can be got to patients.
And of course, the Indian army is also shifting a lot of its reserves and resources to the effort. But it's far too little, far too late. And if
those models are in any way accurate -- and there's every reason to believe that they're not only accurate but they themselves might be an
underestimate of the numbers of people who are going to get infected and die from COVID-19 -- then India, Lynda, is very much at the beginning of
this catastrophic part of the second wave and nowhere near a plateau, let alone the top.
KINKADE: Sam, a lot of people might find it surprising that India is the world's largest manufacturer of vaccines, yet the rollout there has been
tiny, a tiny proportion of the population, just a little over 1 percent. Explain why.
KILEY: Well, that is a question that Indians are asking themselves and asking their government. Of course, the government, the highly
nationalistic, populistic Hindu party, BJP led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi or at least presided over by him as he is the prime minister here,
effectively declared victory over the COVID pandemic earlier this year, basking in what it felt was a glorious truth, that the nation had somehow
miraculously reached some sort of herd immunity and was enjoying being a net exporter of vaccine capacity.
That capacity now has got to be met, either contractually -- and there have been indications from around the world, such as Brazil, that vaccines
ordered from India are now being told to keep them here and distribute them here. That is a gesture made really by the Brazilians -- Lynda.
KINKADE: Sam Kiley for us, good to have you there on the ground for us in New Delhi. We are staying on this story. Thank you, Sam.
Well, Prime Minister Modi, as we discussed, is coming under increasing criticism for its government's response to the COVID crisis. As you saw
earlier, members of his ruling party have continued to hold large rallies like this one on Monday, even as the pandemic worsens.
Ivan Watson tells us that the scenes from these rallies are a stark contrast to the harsh reality that many are facing during India's brutal
second wave.
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IVAN WATSON, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Less than three months ago, India's prime minister declared victory over the
COVID pandemic.
NARENDRA MODI, PRIME MINISTER OF INDIA (through translator): The nation that houses 18 percent of the world's population, that nation has
effectively control the coronavirus and saved the entire world, in fact, entire humanity, from a major tragedy.
WATSON: India's initial success at beating back the first wave of COVID, celebrated by Modi's ruling BJP in a February resolution, thanking Modi's
quote, "visionary leadership for introducing India to the world as a proud and victorious nation in the fight against COVID."
The victory lap continued into April, less than two weeks ago, Modi headlined at campaign rallies, addressing thousands of supporters ahead of
local elections. That optimism running parallel with the Kumbh Mela religious festival where huge crowds of pilgrims gathered on the River
Ganges.
Meanwhile, a second far more deadly wave of COVID-19 was burning its way across the country.
Daily infection numbers dramatically surging throughout the month of April. A growing number of hospitals overwhelmed, short of beds and oxygen for
sick patients, leading to awful scenes of Indians gasping their last breath outside hospitals while waiting for treatment that never came.
RAMANAN LAXMINARAYAN, SENIOR RESEARCH SCHOLAR, PRINCETON UNIVERSITY: These are deaths that could be averted with an 80-dollar, you know, oxygen
cylinder for a week. It's really that. I don't think the second wave was unavoidable, but the scale of it and the damage that it's causing, I think,
was largely avoidable.
WATSON: With the public health system flooded, charities like the Hemkunt Foundation try to help.
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WATSON (voice-over): It provides oxygen to patients as they wait for a hospital bed. Aid worker Harteerath Singh says the foundation is receiving
15,000 calls for help a day.
HARTEERATH SINGH, COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT DIRECTOR, HEMKUNT FOUNDATION: This is the worst I have ever seen.
WATSON: Is there any way that India could have prepared for something like this?
SINGH: We definitely could have done a better job. To be very honest, it's the collapse, it's the collapse in the government and this is the harsh
reality.
WATSON: Critics of the Indian government question why India, which exports oxygen overseas, now suddenly needs emergency shipments of oxygen and other
medical supplies from foreign countries.
HARSH MANDER, WRITER AND HUMAN RIGHTS ACTIVIST: You had a full year to do it and suddenly we are finding these really general shortages around the
country.
WATSON: This week, top health officials suggested stockpiling and panicky patients have contributed to the shortage of oxygen and hospital beds.
RANDEEP GULERIA, DIRECTOR, ALL INDIA INSTITUTE OF MEDICAL SCIENCES: There is an unnecessary panic among the public. And it is causing more harm than
good.
WATSON: As for Prime Minister Modi, in a monthly radio address, he conceded COVID-19 was claiming lives and causing pain.
MODI (through translator): After successfully tackling the first wave, the nation's morale was high. It was confident. But this storm has shaken the
nation.
WATSON: Public health experts warn India's COVID storm is far from over -- Ivan Watson, CNN, Hong Kong.
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KINKADE: Well, if there's one thing we know about this virus, it's that borders mean nothing to it. And India's neighbors are now learning that
many of them are now implementing new lockdowns or strategies to try to avoid some of the devastation they've seen across their border.
Kristie Lu Stout takes us through one of the world's hardest-hit regions.
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KRISTIE LU STOUT, CNN ANCHOR AND CORRESPONDENT: Fueled in part by the devastating second wave burning through India, the number of global cases
of COVID-19 has been on the rise for nine consecutive weeks.
As you can see on this map of cumulative COVID-19 cases by Johns Hopkins University, India is not the only place in Asia hit hard. Cases are spiking
in neighboring Nepal. The border city of Nepalgunj has become a COVID-19 hot spot. Local lockdowns have been imposed in cities, including Kathmandu.
And there have been reports that tourists at Mt. Everett Base Camp were infected but the Nepalese government has denied this.
Other neighbors are not taking any chances. Pakistan has deployed the army in 16 cities to enforce pandemic safety protocols. Bangladesh has imposed a
strict lockdown. On Monday, it sealed its border with India for 14 days. The trade will continue.
Meanwhile, Sri Lanka is bracing for a third wave of infection. Local media report that all ICU beds and hospitals are full, after Sri Lanka detected a
new variant over the weekend.
And starting Wednesday, schools across the country will close. Residents in designated areas are required to remain indoors and a police curfew is in
force.
Indonesia is also battling one of the worst COVID-19 outbreaks in Asia, with over 1.65 million infections since the pandemic began. To prevent the
spread of the new variant, Indonesia has stopped issuing visas for travelers who recently spent time in India.
And this week, the Philippines logged its 1 millionth case of the virus, a grim new milestone, as it struggles to boost health care capacity. About 16
months after the virus was first identified in China, the surrounding region is being ravaged again.
And medical workers across Asia are struggling to push back the pandemic -- Kristie Lu Stout, CNN, Hong Kong.
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KINKADE: Well, as you just heard, across India's northeastern border in Nepal, COVID-19 cases are spiking. They're rising at a rate of 30 percent,
compared to just 3 percent or 4 percent a couple of weeks ago. We'll bring you more on how the country and its health system are coping in the next
hour. That's a look at the cases.
Well, let's have a look at the struggle around for vaccines right now because missed delivery targets and vaccine supply shortages are at the
heart of a legal battle between the E.U. and AstraZeneca.
The European Commission laid out a case in Brussels court earlier today, saying the drugmaker breached its contract by failing to come up with a
reliable strategy to deliver doses on time.
AstraZeneca says the case is without merit and it deeply regrets the E.U.'s decision to launch the lawsuit. Our Cyril Vanier is covering the
developments from London and joins us now live.
Cyril, the E.U. has been lagging well behind the U.K.'s vaccination campaign. It's now demanding that AstraZeneca make the vaccine immediately
available.
How is the European Union making its case today?
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CYRIL VANIER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: The E.U. has actually been demanding that for a while now. And they have had no success in making their arguments
directly to AstraZeneca. They've tried pretty much everything.
I mean, publicly upbraiding the AstraZeneca CEO, summoning him to various hearings, helping -- and many people forget this -- helping AstraZeneca.
The E.U. offered help to improve their supply chain and production issues.
The carrots and the stick have not worked. So the E.U. argues that it had no choice but to bring this lawsuit and to try to seek redress in the
court. The fact is that AstraZeneca has delivered only about a third of the doses that were contractually agreed with the European Union since the
beginning of the year.
Meanwhile, the E.U.'s neighbor, the U.K., has been getting pretty much all the doses that were contractually agreed on time and at pace, which, of
course, has rankled the European Union.
They feel that AstraZeneca should have taken some of the doses that were being manufactured in the U.K. and sent them to the E.U. to make up for
their production shortfalls on the continent.
Now the Belgian judges will have to decide who's right, whether AstraZeneca is, indeed, in breach of contract and, if so, how to redress the situation.
The E.U. says all they want are doses for their people, Lynda.
KINKADE: Cyril Vanier, we will see how this continues to play out and we will speak to you again next hour. Thanks so much.
Well, the organizers of last year's One World Together at Home concert are again bringing celebrities back together after the success of that concert
and raising money to help battle COVID-19.
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HUGH EVANS, CEO, GLOBAL CITIZEN: It raised $127.9 million and I'm pleased to be able to tell your viewers today that 100 percent of that money has
been deployed to provide frontline community health workers with personal protective equipment.
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KINKADE: Well, coming up, next hour, some of the big names involved in this month's VAX LIVE concert, aiming to get extra vaccines from wealthy
countries to health care workers fighting the virus in poorer regions.
Well, despite being one of the worst affected countries in the pandemic and the urgent need to vaccinate more people, Brazil is rejecting Russia's
vaccine. Brazilian health regulators made that unanimous decision today.
They say that they're concerned about flaws in the vaccine's production and its safety. Brazil had already bought 66 million doses of Sputnik. The
Russian agency that funded the vaccine said Brazil's decision was based on politics, not on science and as a result of pressure from the United
States.
Well, next door in Colombia, the coronavirus has had a devastating effect on the economy. Union leaders called for a nationwide strike on the way the
government handled the pandemic and the president's tax reform plan.
This protest in Bogota, unemployment has surged to 16 percent right across the country. That's compared to 9 percent before the pandemic began. A new
government report also shows that more than 30 percent of Colombians cannot afford three meals a day.
Well, make sure to stay with us for the next hour as Stefano Pozzebon is near the site of some of those rallies and we'll speak to him live.
You are watching CONNECT THE WORLD. Still ahead --
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ANTONY BLINKEN, U.S. SECRETARY OF STATE: We have to work with leaders around the world who are engaged in conduct that we find reprehensible.
MOHAMMED BIN SALMAN, SAUDI CROWN PRINCE (through translator): We have more than 90 percent in agreement with the Biden administration.
KINKADE (voice-over): Two countries, two very different ways of looking at their relationship. We'll hear more of what the Saudi crown prince had to
say, coming up.
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KINKADE: Also, Iran's foreign minister has some explaining to do. What prompted the country's parliament to call him in for some answers.
Plus, a grilling in the U.K. Parliament for the British prime minister. Boris Johnson engulfed in a growing political crisis. I'll look at why with
the chief political commentator of the Times Radio next. Stay with us.
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KINKADE: Welcome back.
The British prime minister should have been taking a victory lap over the U.K.'s successful vaccine rollout; instead, Boris Johnson is engulfed in a
growing political crisis. Grilled a short time ago in Parliament over who actually paid to refurbish his Downing Street home.
Take a listen to Boris Johnson earlier in Parliament against the leader of the opposition.
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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Can the prime minister tell the house, does he believe that any rules or laws have been broken in relation to the refurbishment of
the prime minister's flat?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Prime Minister.
JOHNSON: No, I don't, Mr. Speaker. What I believe has been strained to breaking point is the credulity of the public.
He has half an hour, every week, to put serious and sensible questions to me about the state of the pandemic, about the vaccine rollout, about when
we're doing to support our NHS, about what we're doing to fight crime, about what we're doing to bounce back from this pandemic, about the
economic recovery, about jobs for the people of this country.
And he goes on and on, Mr. Speaker, about wallpaper, when, as I've told him umpteen times now, I paid for it.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
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KINKADE: Well, the chief political commentator of the Times Radio, Tom Newton Dunn has been tweeting about the prime minister, quote, "Of all the
different messes swirling around Boris Johnson tonight, ministers seem most worried about the Downing Street flat refurb. Some worry that Boris Johnson
may have a tax problem on his hands over it."
Tom Newton Dunn joins me now from London.
Tom, good to have you with us. Sorry, prime minister Boris Johnson normally a quite charismatic, jovial type character looking very rattled today.
TOM NEWTON DUNN, TIMES RADIO: He really was rattled. He adopted an air of righteous indignation, as you just saw, so he was outraged that the
opposition could be leveling these accusations of corruption at him.
And made it pretty clear that he thought that the electoral commission's investigation is going to go nowhere. But it's serious, very serious. The
electoral commission is a legal body. It can prosecute the prime minister or his officials, senior members, effectively not declaring a donation,
which the prime minister, we now know, received to do up his flat. He lives above the shop, as they say, in Downing Street.
He didn't like Theresa May's decoration, or certainly his fiancee didn't. So they spent 58,000 pounds on it. This 58,000 pounds was given by a donor.
It looks like that wasn't the right thing to do. So he hurriedly repaid the 58,000 pounds himself at the end of last week.
And that now, the electoral commission is looking into because they think the law might have been broken somewhere. Probably on the flat that this
donation, from a donor, wasn't declared.
KINKADE: And all along, as this story has unfolded, we've heard Boris Johnson deny all of this and say he took out a personal loan.
If he has nothing to hide, why didn't he get out on the front foot from the get-go?
DUNN: And there, indeed, is the question. And that is why we're -- what is it now, we're something like two weeks into this. It's a slow burn, this
one. The pressure has been building day by day, as more has come out on this.
And effectively, you could say, with all of the things going on in the world, in India, the pandemic, the rollout of the vaccine here, why are we
all talking about this?
I think it's because Number 10 had found it really difficult to explain what exactly happened here. And also, there's the element of his
girlfriend, his fiancee, Carrie Symonds.
[10:25:00]
DUNN: She's reported as saying that she possibly couldn't live among Theresa May, amongst all of her furniture and decorations, because it was a
John Lewis nightmare. John Lewis is a story we have over here, it's not Promart, it's better than the Promart maybe but it's not Bloomingdale's,
maybe.
So there's concern that there's a bit of snobbishness going on over here and it's the thing that fueled the whole row. The fact that Downing Street
has been so quiet has led us all to suspect that there was some wrongdoing here. Whatever scheme they devised wasn't strictly by the rules, may not
have been quite legal.
Hence why there's been a bit of a reverse ferret as we might call it and the prime minister has picked up the bill himself. But because Number 10
need to iron out all the creases themselves first, I think they were blindsided.
Didn't expect that to pop up and say, we're going to take over this investigation and get to the bottom of who has done wrong, if there is
wrongdoing here, and if someone has broken the law.
KINKADE: And the electoral commission says it believes there are reasonable grounds to suspect an offense or offenses, which they are now
investigating.
How could this play out for the prime minister?
What is the track record for prosecution on something like this?
DUNN: Well, these sort of things happen reasonably often, I suppose here, but it's usually on a minor scale. They talking donations, police
democracy, police elections running smoothly. But their big concern is donations to political parties, making sure those donations are transparent
because you can't have donors giving to the party.
So the rules are over here, without everyone knowing who's given money, so they know that the politicians who are receiving all of this money for
whatever reasons, campaigning, doing up the flat, whatever it might be, they're not there for ad hoc to the donor, not giving the donor special
favors.
And we can all these what those decisions are and why they might be making them. That's why it's quite a big deal. Potentially, if the prime minister
has declared that he should have filed this donation and the law was broken, it's quite serious.
He could be fined up to 20,000 pounds, the police could step in and launch a criminal investigation. I suspect that's quite unlikely.
But whatever happens, it's an embarrassment if he's found to have committed wrong, it's a very big embarrassment. But you have to put this in the
context of Boris Johnson. He's not any normal politician. He does seem to be able to not abide by the normal rules. He's made a career out of doing
that.
There's an element of Donald Trump but also an element of charm. The British public like Boris Johnson. They voted for him in large numbers,
especially in the blue collar or middle class seats. And they don't mind the fact he's got a checkered history.
They doesn't mind fact necessarily that he doesn't fly by the book too often and they like that charm and color, the rogue element to it, if you
like.
What I suspect they won't like is allegations of corruption, allegations of breaking the law and potentially, tax dodging, as well. That is a
possibility, although it's not looking like it's been proved yet. If the prime minister did receive this donation, he would have to pay some tax on
it.
And we don't know whether that tax has been paid. It could get a fair bit worse for the prime minister or he could get away with it again.
KINKADE: Just quickly, to follow on from that, Boris Johnson has been touting his success in the vaccination rollout.
Will that be enough for the public to overlook all of this going on?
DUNN: So far, it seems to be so, because this story has been rumbling on a bit now. We've had the electoral commission meet this morning. But the
polls haven't really changed. We have big location elections coming up next week. And the polls really haven't moved. He's still got something like a
10-point lead over Labour, same lead he had when he got elected in December 2019.
And that returned with a vengeance, he was in trouble last year and Labour overtook him. But with the vaccine rollout, which has been going
spectacularly well here, it has to be said, even better than in the United States, he's very popular. And people are getting their freedoms back and
enjoying life again. They're not really engaging in politics.
KINKADE: Tom Newton Dunn, good to get your perspective, our chief political commentator from Times Radio. Thank you very much for joining us.
DUNN: Thank you.
KINKADE: We'll take a quick break. You're watching CONNECT THE WORLD, stay with us.
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BLINKEN: The crown prince is likely to be the leader of that country for a long time in the future. We have to work with leaders around the world who
are engaged in conduct that we either object to or, in some cases, find reprehensible.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KINKADE: The U.S. secretary of state there, Antony Blinken, not mincing his words about U.S. ties with Saudi crown prince, Mohammed bin Salman. The
Biden administration came in vowing to recalibrate relationships with the kingdom, which had been cozy under Donald Trump.
Speaking on state TV, the crown prince had a very different take on their ties. CNN's John Defterios is following all of this from Abu Dhabi and
joins us now with the details.
John, a pretty unambiguous message from the U.S. secretary of state.
How does the crown prince see the relationship between the two countries?
JOHN DEFTERIOS, CNN EMERGING MARKETS EDITOR: Well, I saw the Blinken message a little bit different, because I have the eyes of the Middle East
on here. And I think despite the tough language, Lynda, Tony Blinken was suggesting here that they will collaborate with Saudi Arabia going forward.
I think there's the long and short of it here and that is that they see, Mohammed bin Salman, at 35, someone who will be engaged perhaps for decades
as the heir apparent to King Salman at this point.
In terms of the crown prince, I thought it was also very interesting, without that firm backing that he had from Donald Trump for four years,
he's now rebuilding bridges with Washington, both in action and in tone.
And on Iran, he said he would like the relationship to prosper and that's a Saudi TV interview. But he did have a few red lines he wanted to mark in
the sand of the desert, if you will.
Number one, not happy about the nuclear program itself and wanting to make sure it doesn't lead to weapons, the ballistic missile program that Iran
wants to develop and foster here.
And also, the use of proxies; for example, the Houthi rebels, which have been putting forward attacks from east to west for the last 18 months and
they have intensified.
And despite the CIA critical report pointing the finger at MBS for the death of Jamal Khashoggi, he says that relations with the U.S. are in good
form, 90 percent agreement was the quote, and he's willing to work on the final 10 percent. Take a listen, Lynda.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SALMAN (through translator): We have more than 90 percent in agreement with the Biden administration when it comes to Saudi and U.S. interests.
And we are working to strengthen them in one way or another.
The matters that we disagree about are less than 10 percent. We are working to find solutions to them in order to determine the danger in our two
countries. USA is without a doubt a strategic partner of Saudi Arabia.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
DEFTERIOS: And one that goes back 80 years, is what the crown prince was suggesting, going back to FDR in 1945, in his meeting with King Saud on the
USS Quincy. He was sending a message to the U.S. and the rest of the world, this relationship will endure, despite the differences that we see today.
KINKADE: No doubt. And, John, the crown prince was also talking about the kingdom's crown jewels, Aramco, with a pretty cryptic message.
DEFTERIOS: Again, cryptic because he didn't lay out the details, Lynda, but a pretty bold one, nevertheless, particularly in the financial markets,
unveiling what he plans to do with the crown jewel and that is sell another 1 percent stake.
He said it would be going to a global energy company in a very major country. I would surmise that to mean that it could be China, Japan, South
Korea and even the United States. I wouldn't rule it out.
But the Asian countries are the major importers of Saudi crude, big customers for Saudi Aramco. At 1 percent it would be valued about $20
billion. What I thought was interesting about this whole process, he said it was one to two years off.
Usually you don't show your cards this early in the dealmaking but he wanted to mark that for the Saudi citizenship, that he has a plan. Take a
listen.
[10:35:00]
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SALMAN (through translator): I can't say the name of this country but it's a huge country. If they got 1 percent, that would strengthen Aramco's
industry and Saudi Arabia and the request for Aramco's products in the country, where the company bought the share.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
DEFTERIOS: And I think that would point mostly likely to China but we'll have to wait and see.
Aramco is being leaned upon for the second phase of the Vision 2030 plan from the crown prince. Some would suggest almost too much, both on Aramco
and SABIC, the chemical maker, because they're going to be driving this $1.3 trillion alone on the first phase of the 10-year investment.
And he's expecting to have -- the crown prince -- come off other investments.
KINKADE: And just finally, this interview today with the crown prince is coming on the fifth anniversary of his so-called Vision 2030.
What are his priorities right now?
DEFTERIOS: OK, so let's say phase I, yes. 2016, before he was crown prince, he launched Vision 2030 to 2021. Phase II will be less about big
megaprojects, building up Riyadh as a major financial capital, and more reaching in to the Saudi people.
We cannot forget and it's often overlooked that the unemployment rate is the highest in the Gulf states, at better than 12 percent. The crown prince
did recognize this in that interview and said, by the end of the decade, if not earlier, he would like to see that come down to 7 percent.
So what does it mean?
He has to have that investment program I was talking about with Aramco. He needs to attract the Saudi capital, the Saudi trading groups, that have
left over the last decade, he's trying to entice them back by using the state companies.
And the foreign direct investment, we saw it spike up at the end of 2020, Q4, finally but there's that kind of after effect, if you will, of the
Ritz-Carlton roundup in 2017 in the name of corruption and also the murder of Jamal Khashoggi.
This scared off international investors. So I think this interview at the five-year anniversary of the Vision 2030 plan was very important to try to
pivot to the future and say, I've got an ear to the Saudi people.
I do need to take care of you and make sure that the next phase of my plan does address unemployment and creates wealth for the older generation of
Saudi Arabia as well as the youth.
KINKADE: A lot to unpack there for us. John Defterios, as always, thanks so much.
Well, the U.S. military says Iran's navy has again taunted its ships in the Persian Gulf. The latest incident happened Monday when three Iranian
warships came within 62 meters of U.S. vessels.
An American Navy spokesperson says the USS Firebolt issued repeated warnings from the bridge but those were ignored, prompting the U.S. ship to
fire warning shots. The Iranian ships eventually backed away. This is the second such incident this month.
Iran's parliament has some questions for their foreign minister. Lawmakers have summoned Mohammad Javad Zarif after an audio recording of him
criticizing the military was leaked.
Among Zarif's comments, the military is not helpful in diplomacy and a top assassinated general had conspired to sabotage the Iran nuclear del.
The foreign minister wrote on Instagram that his story for those comments turned into an internal conflict in Iran.
Zarif's comments were in an interview that's part of a research project. Among his accusations, that slain military general Qasem Soleimani and the
Russians tried to undermine the Iran nuclear deal, as I just mentioned. Take a listen.
(BEGIN AUDIO CLIP)
MOHAMMAD JAVAD ZARIF, IRANIAN FOREIGN MINISTER: (Speaking foreign language).
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (Speaking foreign language).
ZARIF: (Speaking foreign language)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (Speaking foreign language).
ZARIF: (Speaking foreign language).
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KINKADE: Coming up this next hour, South Africa's president is on the stand, answering questions about corruption and his predecessor. We'll tell
you what came out of the hearing.
Plus, there were flowers, a gown and champagne but the guests were somewhere else. We'll look at a wedding in the era of COVID.
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[10:40:00]
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